Improvement in water-proof cement



l UFF1C A. BROWER, OF NEWV YORK, vN. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-PROOF CEMENT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 20,95, dated July 27, 1858.

To all whom it" may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM BROWER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Composition for Rendering Articles Made of Leather Water- Proof and Pliable'; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

The nature of my invention consists of a composition of beef-tallow, beeswax, rosin, shellac, and glue, by which boots,'shoes, and other articles made of leather to be exposed to the weather or water are rendered water-proof or impervious to water by a single application, and yet remain soft and pliable and capable of taking a polish immediately or very soon after it is applied.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe how it is compounded, made, and used.

To make, say, six pounds of my composition, I take about four pounds of the best raw beeftallow, entirely devoid of salt, threefourths of a pound of good rosin, (the common kind,) half a pound of beeswax, and equal parts of shellac and glue (threeeighths of a pound each) to make up the six pounds of ingrcdients. I first place the tallowin any suitable veasel, taking care to try it thoroughly, and to avoid having any common salt in it. I apply heat to the vessel, and when all the tallow is melted add the rosin and allow it to melt. After this I add the beeswax and melt it, and then add the shellac in small quantities, stirring frequently, when it also melts, forming a homogeneous melted fluid mass. After this I add the glue; but it must be melted before it is added, or it will not combine properly with the other ingredients. I therefore melt. it in a vessel placed in the inside of another containing hot water, in the same manner as is employed and doneby wood-Joiners. When the melted glue is poured among the other melted ingredients, the whole mass is stirred thoroughly together for about ten or fifteen minutes, when the composition is made and ready for use. To color it black, lamp or ivory black may be stirred among it,- but this does not add to its water-proof qualities. Any coloring agent may also be employed to give it a tint corresponding with that of the leather to which itis to be applied. In applying it to leather it should be put on hot. The temperature may be about 212 Fahrenheit. should be completely saturated with it, and a sponge or any other article may be employed to put it on.

A single application of this composition to leather renders it completely water-proof afterward, if properly appliedthat is, for common wear, such as boots and shoes, or the hose of fire-engines and the leather valves of waterengines. It also possesses the quality of enabling boots and shoes to be blackened and polished with a brush immediately or very soon after it is applied. The tallow in the composition renders the leather pliable and partly a water-repellent; but it is liable to work out and not to adhere firmly. The rosin renders the composition more water-proof than the tallow singly, but is liable to crack. The shellac in its nature renders the composition adhesive, and gives it a gloss, and the glue possesses this quality also and in avery marked degree for leather, while it is of a nature resembling the basis of leather itself. These four ingredients make a superior adhesive water-proof glossy composition for leather. The,

beeswax is added to prevent the composition from cracking off, and it is preservative in its nature, antiseptic, so that the composition, ev'en although it remains for a long period in the leather, does not putrify nor injure the qualities of the leather, like india-rubber and grease compositions which have been used to render leather water-proof.

In its nature this composition keeps the leather pliable and soft, while it also renders it water-proof, and it is so adhesiveas not tov be squeezed out or removed from boots, shoes, hose, &c., by common usage or wear. It is therefore a useful and durable composition for the purposes set-forth.

I am aware that water-proof compositions for leather, consisting of tallow, suet,- wax, rosin, tar, oil, and india-rubber have been employed. These I do not singly or combined' I am not aware, however, of shellac or lue ever having been em ployed in unctuous water-proof compositions for leather; but these I do not claim of themselves in my composition apart from the other ingredients, as all are required combined to The leather-such as a pair of boots claim of themselves render it so excellent for the purposes set ing an improved, new, and useful article of forth. manufacture. I What Icletim therefore and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the hnited States, is ABRM' The composition composed of all the ingredi- \Vitnesses: ents described and in about the proportions, W. TUsoH, for the purpose set forth, the same constitut- WV. HAU F1 

